This editorial examines the systemic exclusion of Black and South Asian artists from the field of experimental sound, highlighting the historical and institutional biases that have marginalised their contributions. While experimental sound is often framed as a universal, ethnically neutral practice, this narrative obscures the racial and cultural biases shaping the discipline. The marginalisation of these artists is not simply about visibility; it reflects deeper socio-cultural and institutional mechanisms that have historically sidelined their radical sonic innovations. This issue challenges the Eurocentric frameworks that dominate the discourse, drawing attention to the pioneering contributions of Black and South Asian musicians whose work expands the possibilities of experimental sound. By centring these voices, we aim to decolonise the field and offer a more inclusive understanding of experimental sound that recognises its global, diverse influences. Through contributions from artists and scholars, this issue explores how race, identity, and culture intersect within sonic experimentation, offering critical perspectives that question established narratives. Ultimately, this collection aims to reshape the future of experimental sound by amplifying underrepresented voices, advocating for a more equitable and representative sonic landscape that acknowledges the depth of contributions from historically marginalised communities.

Since the mid-20th century, approaches to musical notation have multiplied, giving rise to a multitude of terminologies and classifications. While there exists an extremely rich literature on new approaches to musical notation, it is easy to be confused by a nomenclature that is still under construction and has yet to be formalised. Based on a narrative review of the scientific literature comprising over 250 documents on new forms of notations, this article aims to present the main terminologies used to describe the different approaches to notation. This article proposes a framework illustrating what we observed as the most prominent notation approaches (action-based scores, animated scores, graphic scores, etc.) according to the types of indications (prescriptive and/or descriptive), the notation encoding (semantic and temporal encoding), and the mediums used for transmission (screen, printed, etc.). The contemporary notation framework aims to provide tools for the further analysis and classification of musical notation used in contemporary instrumental, electronic, and electroacoustic music.

The documentation of sound art installation has received scant research attention. This ARTICLE investigates the sensory experience of spatial audio recordings of two sound art installations: Écosystème(s) by Estelle Schorpp and Générateur Stochastique by Jean-Pierre Gauthier. Interactive listening sessions WERE CONDUCTED with participants from different fields of expertise: sound artists, sound engineers, new media and sound art curators, and new media and sound art conservators. Listening sessions were followed by semi-structured interviews questioning the selection of significant positions in time and space in the recordings. The analysis revealed a broad range of listening strategies which expand the literature on documentation frameworks. This research shows the potential for methodologically including the sensory experience in the documentation of sound art installations and discusses the use of spatial recording as a tool for the specification of documentation in a multi-expertise context.

This article is a discussion with supporting commentary, exploring the complex interplay and role of experimentation in various British Black music genres. We consider these as rich sources of cultural production, what we term the ‘Black Box’. As part of this Black Box discussion, we consider the researcher’s role in studying cultural production at global, national, regional and community levels. We critique the tendency of Western markets to both commodify and homogenise as well as raise concerns about perpetuating forms of neo-colonialism, especially with the increased importance of Africa, particularly styles such as afrobeats. Our discussion highlights the paradox of late corporate capitalism’s short-term focus, and we consider whether there is potential for a technological infrastructure to create genuine cultural and economic growth, that also challenges Eurocentric and Anglo-American dominance of the music industry. Within this flux, the importance of experimentation and the emergence of micro-genres facilitated by the internet advances a global dispersal of new sounds. However, this diversity is shadowed by the continued relevance of major label structures and the role of streaming platforms in controlling and mediating artist–fan relationships.

This paper investigates the emergence, development and creative potential of three-dimensional musical scores, examining their transformation from physical layered media to contemporary mixed reality implementations. Through analysis of key historical works and recent technological innovations, it explores how depth and spatial materiality in musical notation create new possibilities for compositional organisation, performance practice and aesthetic expression. The study examines pioneering works utilising transparent overlays and physical depth by composers such as Cage and Takemitsu, before analysing contemporary applications in augmented and virtual reality environments that enable dynamic, interactive score generation and networked performance possibilities. Drawing on phenomenological perspectives and spatial theory, the research demonstrates how three-dimensional scores challenge traditional temporal-spatial relationships in musical notation while suggesting new frameworks for understanding musical structure and interpretation. Technical affordances and limitations of current mixed reality platforms are evaluated, alongside consideration of their implications for future developments in notation and composition. The paper argues that while three-dimensional scores offer compelling new creative possibilities, their successful implementation requires both technological expertise and collaborative approaches that may reshape traditional models of compositional practice.

This article explores an under-discussed and unclaimed conceptualisation of futurity that can be located within historical sound practices and sonic thoughts of the Indian subcontinent. In the 1950s and 1960s, this alternative sonic worldview influenced Western music and its sound pallet without credit. The intervention of this futurism in the Western model of music, sounding and listening was revolutionary, proliferating an alternate aesthesis of time, space and subjectivities in sound practices – with an emergent environmentality, manifesting arguably in the birth of ambient music and sounding arts and remodelling of sensing the world from a relational perspective. Yet, this sonic worldview, knowledge system and a radical sense of non-linear futurity were not recognised then. But the importance of the futurity can be appreciated today on the verge of multiple planetary crises. It is in this time and day that a futurist vision may provide a new sense of surviving for a posterity and generate a possibility of emancipation from the fear and loathing for a dystopian tomorrow, which is construed from a Western perspective entrenched in its rationality. How can we hear possible futures from perspectives of South Asia that have been marginalised in sonic epistemologies by an absence of voices, which could offer new grounds?

This article addresses the question of experiential dimensions of space in sound, in electroacoustic music and sound arts practices in particular. We suggest that these practices are limited by the generalised way that spatial audio techniques are communicated, and we attempt to develop a tentative method that would enable discussion and sharing of spatial aspects in sonic environments. These modes of articulation would permit a translation of the experience of space in sound into other modalities. Reporting from a series of workshops, we outline a three-phase method that moves through the stages of listening, describing, recreating and imagining the sonic spaces. In the final stage, a speculative design approach shows that shared sonic spatial experiences are essentially relational. Topics relating to expectations, biases and language – such as memory and imagination – and the methods of mapping and speculative design are addressed in the discussion. Through the explorations presented in this article it becomes evident that different artistic musical practices still show the same need to develop articulations that enable the integration and communication of spatial relationships. The divide between the development of new technologies for spatial audio and the conceptual frameworks for understanding and communicating spatial sonic knowledge can be bridged, and eventually the development of spatial audio should be fuelled by the dynamics between these two poles.

This article explores phenomenological open graphic notation as an effective scoring method for instrumentalists engaging with chaotic systems in interactive electroacoustic music. Open graphic notation has long provided composers with a means of fostering interpretative freedom in musical performance. The subjective nature of open graphic scores establishes a dynamic relationship between the score and the performer that parallels the interactions between musicians and chaotic systems in interactive electroacoustic music. Chaotic systems, characterised by their non-linear and unpredictable behaviour, often necessitate improvisatory approaches rather than reliance on fixed notation. However, notation can serve as a structural framework, affording composers greater formal control while supporting performers who may be less accustomed to improvisation. How, then, might notation be used with chaotic systems in interactive electroacoustic music? Drawing on phenomenological concepts such as the lived body, embodied action and Gestalt perception, this notational approach can provide a structured yet flexible means of guiding performer–system interactions. The author presents three recent compositions as case studies, demonstrating how phenomenological open graphic notation can shape and mediate the performer’s engagement with chaotic systems in interactive electroacoustic music.

Today’s field of spatialisation in acousmatic music is very heterogeneous. Composers tend to develop their own technologies and techniques for spatialisation, and often the differences in how multichannel systems are addressed may influence both the musical appreciation and the future reproducibility of a piece. Moreover, the analytical and musicological perspectives of spatialisation are both fragmented and underdeveloped, with a lack of a shared framework for their study. This article focuses on these problems and tries to give a coherent and consistent view of spatialisation practice, from both technological and musicological perspectives. It will also act as a bedrock for the development of the musicological side of spatialisation, an aspect too often overlooked. ‘Spatial reduced listening’ and ‘spatial relativism’ will be introduced as analytical perspectives to shine a light on the composed spatial traits of sound, and not only on its spectromorphological and technological features.

The widespread deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools has created a shift in knowledge culture. The marginalisation of slower, more traditional modes of engagement for quantifiable data easily parsed by mathematical algorithms has resulted in prioritising proprietary or opaque datasets (knowledge) explicitly constructed with measurable parameters. Well-documented concerns persist regarding the narrow range of human data used by algorithmic tools, data that arguably encapsulates the many failures of human society. The inevitable result of the use and priority of this data, alongside very particular notions of value and what is valuable, is a replication of many of the foibles of our history as a species.

Cultural practice in general necessitates the communication of what drives our hopes and underlies our experiences. In algorithmic times we can see that this kind of communication supports some of the many critiques of AI and machine learning already extant in activist circles. Through investigating some of the theoretical backgrounds of this resistance, this article uses the first iteration of HEXORCISMOS’S SEMILLA AI project and the resulting album release as one of the many possible ways in which we might use machine learning and AI tools alongside very deliberate and uplifting models of community and community building.

The notion of sound space emerges as a multifaceted exploration within the music, artistic and architectural realms, delving into its evolution from a musical object to a transdisciplinary aesthetic event. Rooted in the interplay of sound and space, the term defies strict definition, reflecting a dynamic amalgamation of interpretations throughout its historical practices and conceptualisations. This article engages with different perspectives on the subject of sound space, bringing together a group of architects, sound engineers, artists and researchers – all of them dedicated to sound – to discuss the sensitive experience of listening to space, within material, and/or dematerialised realities. The methodology was based on a series of interviews, confronting their different points of view, therefore building a compelling retrospective around the subject of study. In this exploration, sound space emerges as a complex entity that transcends traditional boundaries, offering a unique lens through which practitioners redefine architecture, challenge perceptions and engage in a dynamic interplay between sound, space and the listener’s experience. The resulting territory is depicted as a rhizomatic system with diverse temporalities coexisting and influencing the understanding of sound space within phenomenal and material perspectives. It portrays a dynamic and evolving system, celebrating diversity and interaction in a transdisciplinary field.

This article investigates the innovative pedagogical approaches and cultural integration of electroacoustic music in Papua, Indonesia, through the work of composer and educator Markus Rumbino. Born in 1989 in Jayapura, Papua, Rumbino is the first professional electroacoustic composer from eastern Indonesia. After returning to Jayapura in 2013 to join the Institute of Arts and Culture (ISBI) Tanah Papua, he faced unique challenges in a region where electroacoustic music is largely unfamiliar and often misunderstood. The study explores how Rumbino bridges Western music education with Indigenous Papuan sound environments to foster cultural identity and confidence among his students – primarily Indigenous from East Indonesia, including natives from the Papuan Highlands with limited formal musical training. Through detailed interviews and analysis, the article examines his innovative use of soundscape composition, listening exercises and soundwalk methodologies as pedagogical tools. By engaging students in critical listening and exploration of their local soundscapes, Rumbino reconnects them with their cultural heritage while introducing contemporary artistic expressions. Situating his methods within the broader context of soundscape literature and inclusive educational practices in electroacoustic music, this article highlights the transformative potential of integrating local soundscapes into music education. This contributes to discussions on culturally responsive teaching methods and the role of environmental sounds in fostering musical creativity.

Polychrony is a virtual or artificial tempor[e]ality that is constructed by the fine augmentation or tempering of a natural set of latencies that articulate a complex networked acoustic. The art is to optimise the alignment of these disjunct temporalities as they merge in a new chronotopic fusion. This fooling with Mother Nature, however, does not come without consequences: due to the significant latency effects intrinsic to a planetary-scale network, a phenomenon called topo-rhythmia emerges. Toporhythms are derived simply as a feature of communication over distance; they are the multiple versions of a rhythm that occur at each node of a networked piece due to the temporal offsets caused by delay. To work with this feature more intentionally, rather than as an accident of relativity, we must tune or temper the network latency. Tempering is a general tactic for ontological negotiation, bringing observers and complex systems into some kind of coherency. The purpose of this article is to explore the tempering of musical time-space on networks and how that underlies the notational practices (and the alien compositional assumptions) built upon this novel orientation.

We have all made poor decisions, and some such questionable decisions are artistic in nature. When looking back on one’s early work, it is easy to have tinges of embarrassment that are counterbalanced by nostalgia. John Baldessari made this dynamic tangible in 1970 through his Cremation Project, an undertaking in which he burned all of his paintings and baked some of the resulting ashes into cookies. Viewing some of these cookies/ex-paintings several years ago, I felt that Baldessari’s approach to his previous work, simultaneously embracing, annihilating and remaking, was a fitting way to let go of one’s artistic past. My user-driven installation Confessional provides the opportunity for composers to briefly take pleasure in and (symbolically) destroy one of their dubious creations. This process is accomplished with a computer running Max and a user-provided recording that is processed live. The audio processing unfolds in stages that mirror the phases of animal decomposition. Through this series of transformations, the user’s piece transitions from its original state to nearly imperceptible bits of noise. In this article, I examine Confessional, focusing on the work’s conceptual background, related issues such as memory and hierarchy, and the structure of the Max patch that is used for processing.

This article explores biophilic (nature-centred) instrument design and its intersection with architecture and music. While the connection between these disciplines is often discussed figuratively, they are less often combined in practice. The Biophilic Instrument Pavilion (BIP), a site-responsive sound and light installation, serves as a model for such a collaboration using biophilic design as a unifying principle. This multidisciplinary project demonstrates spatialisation in ecological, sonic, visual and social contexts, offering insights into environmental instrument practices and collaborative creative processes.

This article explores new approaches for notating the morphology of sound using the framework of CS Peirce’s concept of indexical signs. While pictographic and symbolic notation struggle to notate the lived dynamic experience of music, indexical notation offers new possibilities for attending to the material, temporal and spectral flux of sound. Drawing from theories outlined by Floris Schuiling, this article presents a case study of an interactive score titled Undersong1 for solo performer that eschews symbolic or pictographic notation in favour of establishing indexical causal relationships between performer and visual responses. The case study suggests that indexical signs may offer an accessible way to engage performers with spectral and morphological elements of sound, opening new pathways for notation to engage experiential phenomena.

Drawing on Umberto Eco’s epistemological metaphor of the open work, this paper explores the intersection of two open forms of notation, inherent scores and text scores, with generative AI. Building on the notion of inherent scores, in which the interface merges with the notation, we introduce embodied sketching, a notational approach that streamlines composition and performance with real-time neural audio synthesis (NAS). We then examine text scores in text-to-audio NAS, presenting Mouja+, a work combining real-time NAS with embodied sketches and AI-generated audio from Fluxus scores. Based on the experience of composing and performing Mouja+, we show how AI’s statistical processing of language introduces interpretative gaps between the human understanding of the scores and the model’s output and propose prompting strategies to streamline the use of text scores with text-to-audio generative AI. We continue by discussing how NAS adds to the open work through algorithmic processes that coalesce into an elusive and deferring sense of presence. Through Derrida’s notion of hauntology, we thus extend the open work into what we term the ‘haunted work’, an epistemological metaphor encompassing a growing corpus of works engaging with the tension between presence and absence as a source of openness.

In autumn 2023, the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Music and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute presented Shifting Center, an exhibition that explored sound through geological formations, architecture, and cultural artefacts. Using spatialisation techniques such as higher-order ambisonics and wave field synthesis, the works created immersive and disorienting auditory experiences. Curators Vic Brooks and Nida Ghouse framed ‘shifting centre’ as a metaphor for dislocation, evoking feminist and political theories of marginalised peripheries and centralised power. While the exhibition was conceptually and technically ambitious, we argue that the aurality of EMPAC itself – marked by abstraction, isolation and immersion – ultimately muted its decolonial potential. By tracing a lineage of spatial audio from the 1958 Philips Pavilion, we examine how architectural acoustics shape the possibilities of what can be heard in EMPAC, limiting the aural and more-than-aural reception of works presented there.